Another Hot Day

It made it to 90° today...really hot out there the couple of times that I ventured out.  I did go out and water my plants that I planted recently.  Tonight's photo shows one of the planters and its new plants. These are doing well.  There are lots of new blooms with more to open before long or so it looks.  The Creeping Jenny is creeping over the edge of the planter the way I wanted it to.

Woody spent most of the morning running errands either for us or with his friend.  He usually sits in the car while his friend does his shopping.  When Woody came home he commented on how hot it was (something that he rarely says these days) so it really must have been hot!  I worked around the house on my first day off for summer vacation.  Nathan and Kathy and family braved the hot weather and continued with their yardsale.  Yesterday Nathan and Graham went to Murfreesboro and picked
up some more items for their yardsale from Melany and Wade.  Melany and Wade are in the midst of
getting their old house ready to be put on the market.  So they were glad for Nathan to drive away
with some of the things that they no longer wanted.

I have enjoyed breaks in my day reading and watching some old seasons of HGTV on my iPad...watching kitchen renovations...dreaming of the time that we will be in the midst of ours!  I did empty out several more cabinets.  The only things in the lower cabinets on the stove side of the kitchen are canned goods and our air popcorn popper.  All the pots and pans that we use regularly are on the dining room table...at least I don't have to bend over to get them!  Little by little the cabinets are emptying out...it should be a quick process of having them totally empty when the word comes that renovation is going to start!  The big question is WHEN!

We are actually back in the loop for Vanderbilt appointment reminder calls.  We got reminded about Dr. Holt's appointment this coming week.  That is the first time in over a year that we have gotten a reminder/confirmation call from Vandy.

A Day of Lasts

Today was the last day of Grammy School.  Everyone except Joy came over for either their school time or their reading time or their long time.  Joy was helping with the yard sale and chose not to come...she is n the middle of a Nancy Drew mystery so I know that she will continue reading to find out who-done-it.  Isaac and I took apart the last of the K'nex builds and got all the pieces put in their proper places.  Well, I say we took apart the last...I am sure that there are more at their house that need to come back over here and be put away...but we did what we could with what we had here.  So the K'nex are ready summer building time. Thought right now I am discouraging having too many out since I have started putting kitchen items in the living room till after the remodel.  I took more things out of cabinets today.  I also took out quite a few food items that I had stored in one of the kitchen cabinets. So the cupboards are becoming barer!

Elijah and I went shoe shopping this afternoon.  Woody has been in and out watering plants and picking up sticks in the yard.  It has been a pretty hot day...no one felt like staying out very long.  It was a hot night at the softball fields.  Joy and Esther played games at the same time tonight.  Tonight was their last softball game for this season.  Esther's team remained undefeated. Joy's team didn't win a game this season, but did tie twice. Esther's team went to the DQ after their game.

We left to go to the game before I could get the kitchen cleaned up after our supper...so I guess a mess is calling me.  This hot weather makes me not want to do anything except sit and read!

All I can say is SUMMER VACATION has started!  My hope for the summer...have the kitchen done before we go back to school!  I guess time will tell on whether that hope comes true!

Wednesday Wanderings

Joy pitching!

Esther (blue uniform) on her way to stealing home safely!

No ball games tonight, but decided that it was time for a couple more ball game photos since I finally got them loaded from the cameras onto our laptop.  Only one game to go for the girls' this softball  season...tomorrow evening's game.  Everything is coming to a close...school and ball!

Joseph came over for a shortened time this morning.  Then he and his siblings headed off to the dentist.  Isaac came over after they got back...a little before lunch and had his reading time today.  I worked around the house during the time that should have been school.  I was able to get the whole downstairs vacuumed.

Woody and Nathan went to a funeral in the late morning.  After lunch I went to the library for a short time to do maintenance and a couple of other tasks...I even managed to print off an overdue list...next will be to check its accuracy with what has been shelved.  No matter how careful we are, usually some get put back on the shelf and not checked back into the computer...sometimes human error but sometimes computer error...or so we think!

It has been another hot day...upper 80's to lower 90's...but there was a breeze...so it was very pleasant to sit on the front porch, at least this morning when Joseph and Isaac read with me.  Esther's cats have taken to stretching out on our love seat glider...I think they like the air circulating through the slats!   

Another Late Night at the Ball Park

We have just returned from two ball games.  Esther's team won handily—10-0.  We thought that Joy's team was going to win...but in the end they tied 11-11.  Good game for both girls.  Joy pitched the first inning and only allowed one run to score.  She caught a fly ball and then threw to first base for a double play.  Esther went for tryouts for the Tullahoma Middle School softball team later this afternoon before her game. Joy plans to try out for the Tullahoma High School softball team.

School is on the count-down to the end.  Just two more days for Grammy school!  And, tomorrow I will only have a couple come for school as it is dentist check-up day for their family.  Woody did a little in the yard today...and, of course, did crossword puzzles, watched TV, and read.  He had an appointment with his nephrologist this afternoon. I cooked cooked another chicken this afternoon, but didn't make chicken stock this time as we still have plenty from the chicken that I cooked last week. I will freeze most of this chicken.  I sliced a good portion of it this time so we can have it for sandwiches.  I think that I will freeze some of the slices as that seems like something we can have when the kitchen is out of commission.  I keep trying to figure out what we can eat during that time...as we can't say we will just eat out because of Woody's strict diet.  Luckily when I can't cook here, I can slip next door and prepare our meals there!  Just want them to be easy!  Still no word on when they will get underway here...hopefully the cabinets are being worked on!

Better Late Than Never!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATHAN!

The end product of Abigail's secret baking project: a Carrot Cake Cheesecake!

Lots of thought...always put into the gift giving!

Esther and Joseph made a card for their daddy using Joseph's hand.

Nathan had an interesting start to his birthday.  They were on the road for juggling performances.  

Not long into the morning yesterday Nathan had to change a tire on their RV.  His next encounter was one of the pull outs where they store the juggling equipment on the side of the RV.  Nathan cracked his head on it and sported a big bandaid on his forehead for part of the day.  They got home in time to go to church for the AWANA end of the year program.  When they got home, from church, a time was finally found to actually celebrate with cake and gifts.  A rather full and busy day.

My thoughts on the day?  Well, I KNOW I felt a lot better yesterday than I did 47 years ago when I had Nathan in the middle of the night.  I was in the hospital for an acute kidney infection and had been spiking a 105° temperature for most of May 18th.  Nathan decided that it was too hot in the 

oven and arrived very quickly in the wee hours of the morning on May 19th...neither the doctor nor Woody made it to the hospital before he was born...and, they were less than 20min. away.  He was born three weeks early. They said that he was "immature" rather than "premature."  But back then when a baby was in ICU the mommy and daddy just looked through the window at the baby.  We never touched him till he was six-days-old...the day he came home from the hospital.  How "things" have changed these days!   

Another Warm Day

I tried to sneak out and get a picture of "the girls" aka Esther's cats today, but my plan was foiled.  They thought that my camera was a food offering and came running instead of staying all stretched out across the front porch glider.  I took these another day.  I did take a picture of them begging, but it is on the camera that I have to use the laptop to get them off the camera and then send them via email to my iPad in order to use them in the blog these days...and I was just too lazy!

I have been working with pictures this afternoon.  I have an idea of how to use one of my photos in the kitchen so have been trying to figure out which one...or if I will even follow through on this idea.  I did move a few more things out of cabinets today.  Woody thinks that it won't be too long now till they are ready to tear out our present cabinets.  He is more optimistic than I!  But I still decided to move a few more things.  I decided to put the pans that we use the most on the dining room table for the moment so they will still be fairly accessible but will be out of the cabinet when the time comes.

Woody did his daily crossword puzzles early this morning.  He has also read.  He did a little out in the yard...as did I.  I planted the other two plants that I got at Lowe's out in the mailbox flower bed.  I definitely felt the heat when I was doing that!  Woody made Apple Zucchini Bread this afternoon.  And, he rode with Abigail to the grocery store down the street so she could drive.  Abigail needed some ingredients for a secret baking project...that we are in on...mums the word from us!

It has been a pretty quiet day...not much going on...not much energy to make much happen!

Ants Munching

Our pretty pink rhododendron in the front of our house is blooming and ever so pretty.  Woody suggested that I take a couple of pictures.  I noticed in the first picture that I took that there was something in the one bright pink blossom that hadn't fully opened yet.  On closer inspection, I realized that it was an ant.  And then noticed that there was another ant in the picture too.  I took a close up of the center to show the little ant all tucked into the bloom, probably enjoying a snack.

Today has really been a hot day. More like summer than spring.  It got into the mid 80's and the humidity was higher also.  I really felt the heat when I went outside to plant a couple of hanging baskets before lunch.  Besides doing a little planting, I also stewed a chicken and then made "liquid gold" aka chicken stock.  And, of course, stewing a chicken means taking the chicken off the bone...a messy job...and, then there is the greasy, messy pot to get clean.  I got it clean so I could turn around and make a lot of chicken noodle soup...though it was a bit warm for soup!  It does taste good and I hadn't made any for a while. We both enjoyed it for supper and there are leftovers for another couple of meals...which I like a lot!

Woody did our grocery shopping first thing this morning and then was off to run errands with his friend.  Those two errand running chores took up his whole morning and even into part of his afternoon.  Woody got a surprise when he went outside to mow and found out that the front yard and part of back yard had been mowed by someone next door.  I heard the mower going, but didn't look out so haven't solved that mystery yet.  They were having a yard sale so I'm not sure who was kind enough to leave it for a while to help us out.  And, haven't seen them since the discovery to ask.  But we do thank who ever it was!

Abigail came over for her home ec time.  She began quilting her throw today.  She got going on stitching in the ditch, which is the way this one will be quilted and I told her that any time she has some free time she can come over and stitch a row or two till it's done.  She has a bit more time on her hands since Montessori school ended for this school year, yesterday.  Just think...at 15, Abigail just finished her first year of teaching! She has really enjoyed it.  She loves children.  She stays pretty busy with her homeschooling, babysitting, cheesecake baking, church activities, etc. She doesn't have a lot of free time on her hands!